Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-01-28

Remote from those influences which on
their native soil had developed the SONGS,
the folk lore and the fairy tales If the com
mon people, remote also from the literature
Of the race and engaged in conflicts which
cngrossed all their faculties. they were
obliged 10 await more favorable conditions
for taking up and carrying forward its lii
erature
change in the people-for ! am not
speaking of literary centres or Of excep-
tionally favored individuals, nor do ! wish
to be misunderstood on this point-was ap-
parent as early as 1850, and has become
more marked with each succeeding year.
Now books are everywhere: no cottage so
poor as 10 lack them; thought is free. dis
cursive, and beginning to he productive.
There is movement in the tree-tops The
sun is up: it shines on the prairies, it gids
the Great Mountains, and rises where our
sun descends, on the shores Of the Pacific.
The heavens are flooded with light A new
world of Thought is opened, and the land is
stimulated 10 its investigation.
After all that can be said in favor Of dis
seninating good literature among the PEG
pie, why not leave it, as most other things
are left to the operation Of economic laws
If the people want books, they will have
them if not, why force them TO read
In the first place, the reasonable desires of
many people are in excess of their means :
and IN the next place, books aggregated
and easily accessible have a power denied
to them when dispersed A library well
selected and wisely administered is an or
ganism with life and purpose Of its own.
Such an organism rises here under the po-
tent wand Of Mr.. Brooks To it flock the
mighty spirits Of the past-spirts mighty
10y their knowledge and 10y their wisdom,
poets mighty 10y their gift Of song-and to
1t will flock those who in the future CON
tribute to the instruction or delight Of man
kind, and here will dwell wisdom and beauty
to enrich with wisdom and beauty all who
shall come hither
We have, or are soon to have, a library
ample for all reasonable uses To the wis
dom Of the present it will add the wisdom
| of the past. What should we learn from
| it Perhaps. in this day of unrest. of un-
settled opinions and uncertain looking for
ward into the future, we desire to know
most Of all how life, with its problems which
| perpleX us or strike us in a certain way
has struck another wiser than we are If
he has written sincere book. we should he
in fair way to know. 1t may be history.
epic, drama, poetry or song no matter
which provided the thought and its expires
sion be sincere. Sincerity in "A book or
work Of art is no less admirable than in "a
| living soul. and it is no less rare-absolute
sincerity, no concealment of essential
thought no posing for effect. no words for
rhetoric. Therefore for my own welfare
will read only sincere books and 50 ought
those from whom may be expected the fu-
| ture literature of America: and 50 ought
those whose lives will 20 to form the ma
| uonal life and character out Of which that
! hterature-if We are to have one worthy of
/ the name-must spring. NV Hundred
! Best Books, other things being equal
would he the hundred most sincere books.
Now that the people are the governing
| force, and are more and more shaping pub
he sentiment on great variety Of subjects,
they should not only be sincere but well
and accurately informed Our education
politics and literature within the last gener-
alton have been somewhat sentimental and
sensational and with this result-that our
best thoughts and our best books are lack
ing in accuracy and accuracy. it must not
be forgotten, is required Of a song a. much
as Of the multiplication table. There are
books-such as Homer for example-which
tell us in the most splendid poetry but
| none the less accurately because in poetry
how people lived and what they thought
| and how they felt three hundred or three
thousand years ago; and there are others.
well enough as poetry, which place such
matters in false or inaccurate light. and
should therefore be avoided. little exer-
else of the critical faculty and of common
sense will enable us to say what books are
sincere and accurate. So | would select
for my reading accurate books, as accurate
and sincere as "a dictionary. | know some
sNtra.a l.. l.. 1. 4 -
dictionaries and why not Your library. in
multifariousness and completeness of knowl-
edge, will be not unlike dictionary and
that is one advantage which public libra
ry has over "A private collection. From
sheer necessity we must select from the
great mass of books those most TO our pur-
pose Why not select such parts of each
We go to dictionary with set and definite
purpose to lind accurate, sincere answers
III respect to some particular word--not ten
words, or twenty words at the same time
What would be more rational than to use
other books-aS histories, poems or songs
in the same way. No one unless he is in
dolent, goes To dictionary until he has ex-
hausted the resources of his own memory:
and So no one should read book without
first asking, What do desire Ia know on
given subject, and what do | already
NM" AANiN II lip btfbh ~ W lllcl llllS may
not be applied nor is there any way save
by this directness of aim and sureness of
purpose by which we can come into direct
communication with the great souls among
the dead
think this must be the true use of books,
because it brings to pass the purpose of
their writers,-of those sincere writers
who have something to say. 1t also brings
TO pass another thing Of scarcely less value.
1t teaches facility of access To them. One
would hardly say that it costs as much TO
get at the thoughts of great mind as it
did 10 produce them but it would not be
altogether absurd to say something like
that How many lives have been given to
the study of Homer; what generations of
men have been sounding the depth of
Shakspeare's thought, and how many ages
will pass before the depth will he reached
No one ever partially penetrated the re-
cesses of Shakspeare's mind without nc
quiring something of his penetration no
one ever assembled the height which Milton
trod without becoming suffused with the
glory which rested upon his head.
II one object of reading is to bring our
selves into relations with minds broader
and richer than our own, another is to
bring ourselves into harmony with man
kind, or at least our cOnntry1nen. with
whom we have agreed to live and to work
for the perfection and defence of democratic
institutions, and To refute Coleridge by
showing that democracy can think, think
broadly, deeply, and wisely that it can
feel and aspire, delight in visions of glory.
see all that poets have seen, and imagine
and express all that artists have conceived
or wrought by form or color.
To this end | would read those books
which are not only sincere and accurate.
but those which treat subjects with breadth
of view. At best our thoughts are cramp-
ed, narrow and preiudiced, and we should
court familiarity with the opposite qualities
and tendencies.
| have selected from the many desirable
qualities of books those which appertain To
greatness of character, and without which
we cannot become people great in affairs,
nor learned in the sciences, nor cultured in
the arts but with these qualities, united to
the genius of the English race and TO what
our Celtic brethren contribute to the COM
mon stock, a free, equal, educated, and cul-
tured people, we may revive the glories of
the best ages.
The people have come to the front and
who are the people Certainly not alone
the ignorant the debased, and the spoilers.
They include all the wise, the cultured, and
the righteous as well. The real Democracy,
thus made up, must prove their right to
stay at the front. Not less than kings and
hierarchies and aristOcracies in the past, we
in the present are on trial. If we allow
any great interest of humanity TO fail If in |
our hands religion, science, art or literature
fall into decadence, we must give way to |
those who can save them because human |
nature is stronger than Democracy and 50
is religion, and so are those indestructible, |
unconquerable principles by which the race
aspires and achieves.
But there will be no failure, though not |
Inlil.nl,. thni.. will Ia. anlnn nI,tiI